More and more increasingly, controllers of electronics are becoming available that may be programmed such that their interfaces are adapted to suit various individual preferences, thus allowing multiple users to take advantage of the controller's programmable interfaces by customizing the interfaces for their own particular desires. Additionally, these controllers may allow for parental control over children's access to specified functions associated with the controller. The above-referenced '873, '841, and '940 applications describe some such controllers, including hand-held remote controllers with graphical displays, for controlling consumer devices.
To log-on to these multi-user devices, a user typically enters a password. This type of access or log-on has a major drawback in that the password may be easily forgotten. Additionally, access via passwords may be difficult for small children. Other existing identification or log-on technologies, such as fingerprint, voiceprint, or other bio-metric technologies, could overcome these drawbacks, yet they have not heretofore been incorporated into remote controllers for consumers devices such as those described in the above-referenced '873, '841, and '940 applications.
However, even if a user logs on successfully, whether by password, bio-metric identification, or otherwise, the user is typically presented with a display (either on the device, or on an associated device such as a television screen, computer monitor, etc.) representing a common starting point for every user who logs on. This is inefficient for situations in which it is common for the controller to be transferred from one user to another frequently in a short time period. For example, in the context of a controller and browser device to be used by multiple family members, there may at times be frequent changes of users. It would be frustrating for each new user to have to "start from scratch" each time, and navigate from a universal initial system state (or screen, or page, etc.) to the system state of interest.
For example, if a first user mostly uses the controller for controlling a CD library changer, and a second user mostly uses it for television viewing, then it will often be the case that the first thing the users would want to do is look at CD alternatives or EPG data respectively. With the traditional approach to user identification, when the second user wants to use the controller after the first user, and the second user wants his or her own preferences in the user interface, he or she would have to start from the initial screen or system state, and navigate to an EPG screen. And this would be permitted to occur only after the first user was properly logged off of the controller. Similarly, the first user would have to navigate from the initial screen to a CDs screen, after gaining control of the controller from the second user, and only after the second user was logged off.
Systems are known wherein the system may be "locked", either manually or automatically, after some time delay, but only the same user can "log in" to the system again, back to the last system state the machine was in. This is the case, for example, with personal computer operating systems such as Windows95, where a screen saver may require a password for a user to log back on to the system. Systems are also known wherein a "super-user" is defined who can log-in to the system in its current state at anytime. But if the "super-user" customizes the environment for his or her own preferences, those preferences will remain in effect for the original user when the original user logs back into the system. That is, the system will no longer be in the state in which that original user left it, unless the super-user manually restores the original user's last state prior to returning control to the original user. An example of this type of system is a Unix computer workstation.
Another problem associated with current multi-user devices is that time-out algorithms are typically driven solely by a predetermined or programmed time delay. That is, after a certain amount of time of non-activity has passed, the system or device will automatically log-off as a security feature to prevent another user from gaining unauthorized access thereto. This may not be desirable in situations in which it is common for the controller to be in use, yet idle, for extended periods of time. For example, in the context of a controller and browser device to be used by multiple family members, a user may listen to hours of music at a time, or watch a several hour long movie, and would want to retain control of the device despite having not activated any features thereon since starting the music or movie.
To overcome the above-referenced drawbacks in the prior art, it would be desirable to provide a controller in which each user can log-on in a quick and simple yet secure manner, and/or which enables each user to be presented with the controller in a system state the same as or similar to the system state the controller was in the last time the user had control thereof, and/or which provides for time-out algorithms more sophisticated than simple time-triggered algorithms.